So, I recommend this video for a more concrete explanation of BitCoin and other crypto currencies. If it had been explained to me like this years ago, I'd have jumped in a lot sooner. Instead, all I knew was that crypto currencies were shady, nebulous things that were used by malware distributors to extract payment. Now, I can see how this stuff is really neat.

This video is about 26 minutes long. So, probably catch it during lunch?